The Punic Wars - Who was wrong and who was right?

The Punic Wars. Perhaps the first "World War" the world had ever seen. It occurred in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC and involved the then-world superpower Carthaginian Empire and the burgeoning Roman Republic. The Romans controlled most of Italy, parts of Spain, parts of the Adriatic Coast and parts of Magna Grecia (Greek-settled parts of Southern Italy) at this time. 

Scant little, really. Nothing in the guise of what would become the Roman Empire, almost 400yrs in the future. Even then, Rome had already learnt the importance of maintaining client states and good relations with various tribes and city-states. As it stood, Rome's growing power and influence was always going to bring it into direct conflict with the established power of the region, Carthage. Earlier in the millennium, Phoenicians (from present-day Lebanon) had settled along the coast of Africa and one of the cities they founded became a great empire of its own. Carthage. Truly a great city that had gained power as the Greek and Ptolemaic Kingdoms of the east had lost theirs. 

It can be argued that Rome began the Punic Wars. They landed in Sicily, a Carthaginian domain at the time and this did not sit well with Carthage. The First Punic War ensued and even though Carthage had the upper hand for most of the war, the Romans proved to be highly adaptive and quick learners. The famous Roman "legion" was also becoming the machine that would one day rule the world and thus the Romans won the war overall. Several of Carthage's territories and client states were taken by Rome as spoils of war and Carthage had to sign a peace treaty and pay Rome huge amounts of money as penance. To make matters worse for Carthage, they also had to fight the Mercenary War almost immediately at the conclusion of the First Punic War and Rome capitalized on that as well. Carthage was left a wounded animal, with a bad taste for Rome. 

The story so far seems to paint Rome as the evildoer. But things would change significantly during the Second Punic War. Carthage invaded Spain and began mining and conquering large tracts of Iberia to rebuild the Empire and pay for new armies and navies. The problem was, Rome had several client kingdoms in the region as well. And Carthage attacked one of those client cities. This got Rome's attention and they immediately declared war on Carthage. But this time, things would play out quite differently. Because a certain man by the name of Hannibal the Great was now in command of an invasion force that was waiting to strike at the Roman homeland, Italy. 

Hannibal had waited all his life for this. He grew up amongst Carthaginians who felt they had been harshly treated at the end of the first war. But now Carthage was once again powerful, rich, determined to stop Rome and they finally had a truly great general in him. He arrived in Italy and immediately law waste to many Roman armies. There was seemingly no legion, no commander...no one who could stop Hannibal's armies. The Gauls of Northern Italy also joined him against Rome and then Philip V of Macedon (a Greek kingdom) also declared war on Rome as part of an alliance with Carthage. Looked like 'Game Over' for the Roman Republic. But history doesn't quite always go the most obvious route and is made instead by the most determined side. And that just happened to be the Romans. They knew they could not face Hannibal's genius head-on, so they came up with a number of strategies. First, a Roman army arrived in Spain, led by Scipio Africanus, with the aim of cutting off vital supplies and troop reinforcements for Hannibal. Second, they made several alliances with other Greek kingdoms hostile to Macedonia and bogged down Philip V in Greece itself and prevented him from joining Hannibal in Italy. Third, they refused to engage Hannibal directly and instead hounded him, harassed him and hit him from the side. All three strategies worked. Philip V never made it to Italy, the Romans took Spain and Hannibal slowed down to a crawl in Italy. Even when he had the chance, he didn't strike at Rome itself. By this time, he had understood the meaning of Roman resolve. Finally, Scipio Africanus, the general who took Spain, devised an incredible plan. He would take most of the Roman armies and invade the Carthaginian Empire ITSELF.

It worked. The Roman armies found many allies in the area (those who had been subjugated by Carthage) and began destroying army after army fielded by Carthage. The situation became so dire that the Carthaginian government ordered Hannibal and the main Carthaginian army to return to Africa immediately and deal with the rampaging Roman Army and Scipio. But the Romans had learnt their lessons. They met the returning armies as they landed on the coast and destroyed them. The Romans had officially won the Second Punic War. In the meantime, with Spain under Roman control and another Roman army having successfully destroyed Macedonia with Athenian and Spartan help, Rome had not only survived but prospered and grown. Carthage begged for peace and Rome allowed it and spared them but disbanded their armies, navies, took away their foreign lands such as Sardinia and Sicily and essentially made them a client state under Roman watch. 

Over the next few decades, Rome worked hard to capitalize on her new found power and put to the sword those states which had allied or helped Hannibal. Scipio Africanus entered the history books as one of the greatest generals of all time, a full 150yrs before Julius Caesar. But the Romans had not forgotten Carthage. They still wished for that 'nuisance' to be gone forever. So they pounced at the first opportunity they got 50yrs later and moved her armies in for the final kill. The Third Punic War was now on. After destroying what little remained of the Carthaginian military, Roman forces besieged the city of Carthage, the capital. After many weeks, they finally entered the city and killed everyone. Every single being. And burnt the city over and over and over again. The destruction was complete. Nothing remained of either the Carthaginian Empire or the capital itself. Not a single Carthaginian was left alive. Rome had now gained brutal and TOTAL revenge on the same land which had tried to eliminate Italy and Rome. 

It was a shockingly brutal end to the three wars but I believe that Carthage had sealed its own fate at the start of the second war. I think Hannibal pushed it. They had plenty of reasons to be threatened by the Roman Republic and even put blame on Rome's name for starting the first war, but for Hannibal to land in Italy with a gigantic army and lay waste to many towns and cities and wipe out several Roman armies was a step too far. ANY civilization, especially one as determined as the Roman Republic, will one day make you pay for such a step. And they did. Hannibal's army was big but Italy's population was bigger. And even though he had expected many Italic tribes and cities to support him and turn on Rome, this never really happened. Why would the people of the same land support a rampaging foreign army? They stood with Rome for the most part and Rome had a steady supply of personnel to keep building new armies and naval crews out of. Even though Rome suffered greatly, Carthage's fate was sealed as soon as Hannibal landed. 

Should Rome have razed Carthage to the ground? Maybe not. But Rome had little reason to trust Carthage or even assume another Hannibal would not arise again some day and attempt once again to destroy Italy. My opinion? Carthage got what it had coming.